VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The proud achievement was successfully created by Indonesian students at Intel ISEF in the United States. I Made Wiratathya Putramas and Carolline Mathilda Nggebu won the 4th ISEF 2019 Intel Grand Award for the Life Sciences category. The students of High School 3 Denpasar, Bali had also previously won the Special Science Physical Award from Sigma Xi, an international scientific organization. Both of them examined the potential of the active substance of rhizophora apiculata mangrove plants found in Serangan Beach, Bali for environmentally friendly paint raw material on ships.The award was also obtained by Michaela Samanta. The student of Christian High School Penabur Gading Serpong received a Special Award from the Patent and Trademark Office Society for her work C-Rice: Computational and Experimental Design Development of Transgenic Rice. Samantha who researched genetic technology to produce animal protein rice for food access for poor families was entitled to receive cash worth US$500 dollars.This year, Intel ISEF was attended by more than 1,800 scientific works of the students representing 423 Intel ISEF affiliates from 88 countries around the world. The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) sent eight Indonesian students from high school and Madrasah Tsanawiyah at the event held in mid-May. They are the winners of the LIPI Youth Scientific Work Competition (LKIR) in 2018. Head of LIPI, Laksana Tri Handoko said that the success of Indonesian students this year proves that the creativity and innovation of our young generations are able to compete globally.

Since Thursday and Friday (May 30 and 31, 2019), three summits have been taking place successively in Saudi Arabia. The first event is the Arab League Summit. The second is the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit and the last event on Friday is the Summit of the Islamic Cooperation Organization -OIC. The first summit was held since tensions in the region increased. In fact, the Gulf Cooperation Council summit is called an emergency meeting. Meanwhile, the OIC Summit has been planned to take place in Mecca.The Arab League summit and the Gulf Cooperation Council are closely linked to the increasingly heated situation in the Gulf region. Some days before, at least, 2 incidents triggered an increase in tension. The first was an attack on an oil carrier. Until today, it is unclear who is responsible for the attack. The second is the drone attack from Yemen which is believed to be carried out by the Houthis against Saudi Arabia's oil facilities. The tension was worsened by the presence of US warships that are about to anticipate any attacks in the region.According to Saudi Arabia, Iran is considered to be behind all these attacks. In addition, an expression of a US official also seemed to corner Iran over the attack on the tankers. During the emergency summit, Saudi Arabia suddenly invited Qatar, which has been disliked over the past two years.Iran that was targeted by the black campaign did not remain silent. With several countries such as Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman, which still have good relations with Tehran, Iran has taken an approach to become a mediator with Saudi Arabia and the United States to reduce the escalating tensions in the region.Whatever is the decision at the three summits should create an opportunity to reduce the tension towards the peace negotiation forum. It proves that there is no lasting conflict. This means that Qatar is invited at these summits. This is not an easy job but can still be carried out as long as the warring parties want to sit together to communicate towards a solution to peace.

Sulawesi is an island which is rich of diversity. There are a lot of mountains, some kinds of culinary, beautiful towns and many maritime tourism destinations which attract many tourists throughout the world. To visit Central Sulawesi is not complete if not visiting Dua Island. Dua Island located in Luwuk, Banggai, becomes the main maritime tourism destination in this region. The combination among nature, mountain and undersea panorama become unique view. Banggai waters with Peleng gulf is an historical site of Indonesia. In July 1962, there were hundreds of warships and troop transport ships on the waters of Peleng gulf. Dua island can be accessed from Luwuk airport or Palu City. The access from Luwuk is closer and easier with smooth path. From Luwuk, you can go to Balantak beach where it is a crossing place to Dua island. We suggest you not to go at night because this area lacks of lighting and it is quiet lane. Although it is remote area, the name of Dua island has been well-known among foreign tourists. On the island, there is lodging with good enough facilities. Visitors can enjoy natural land it is surrounded by the sea. The hills on Dua Island look like to have sparkling golden colors because the hills are exposed form the sun. From far, there seems Blue Ocean which combines perfectly with Dua Island. On Dua Island, in additional to hunting spots for taking picture, here, you can also snorkel and dive. There are 35 diving spots which spread out surrounding Dua island’s waters such as Ondoliang Rock, Nemo Rock, Alibaba, Batu Gong and many others. Indonesian Tourism Ministry begins to promote Banggai regency as world class fishing tourism destination. To support it, the central and regional governments will hold international fishing competition with the title ‘Banggai International Tuna Fishing Tournament’ on September 27 – 29, 2019. Participants of the tournament will be directed to catch some fish such as skipjack tuna, yellow fin tuna, big-eye tuna, and blue fin tuna. This event is as trial event before it becomes an annual event. Besides fishing tournament, the participants will also be invited to enjoy ‘joy sailing’ to Banggai islands. So, they can enjoy cultures and traditional foods of Banggai and can also witness fishing demonstration by using kites.

Voice of Indonesia presents “Let’s Speak Bahasa Indonesia,” a lesson in the Indonesian language on the radio, introducing some Indonesian vocabulary and tips on how to use it in a conversation. This segment is a joint initiative of Voice of Indonesia and the Language Development and Cultivation Agency at the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture.  Today’s topic is ‘Sorry’ or Mohon Maaf.

Next is a conversation about Mohon Maaf or ‘Sorry’. Three days ago was Ied-El Fitr. Tony joined to celebrate the Holy Day at Joko’s house. He congratulates Joko and Dinda, Joko’s wife.

Tony           : Selamat hari raya Idul Fitri

Joko           :Terima kasih. Saya mohon maaf atas semua kesalahan

                     saya.

Tony           : Sama-sama. Saya juga minta maaf, ya.                                                       

After the conversation, now I’ll introduce some vocabularies and idioms related to the topic today. I’ll say each word slowly, and twice and you can follow after me.

- Idul Fitri                                (Ied el-fitr)

- Selamat hari raya Idul Fitri   (Happy Ied-el Fitr)                                    

- Kesalahan                  (mistake)                                             

- Saya mohon maaf atas semua kesalahan saya (I beg your forgiveness

                                               for my mistakes)

- Saya juga mohon maaf, ya (I’m sorry too)

To convey congratulation for any celebration, such as religious holiday or other celebration days, you can use the word selamat.

For example :

Selamat hari raya Idul Fitri (‘Happy Ied-El-Fitr’)

Selamat tahun baru    (‘Happy New Year’)

Selamat ulang tahun (‘Happy Birthday’)

Usually, on Ied el-Fitr, Muslims apologize each other by saying Saya mohon maaf atas semua kesalahan sayawhich means ‘I beg your forgiveness for my mistakes’. The expression can also be used in daily conversation, if you have mistakes. For example when you accidentally stepped someone’s feet. You can say saya minta maafor maaf ya which means sorry.

The phrase mohon maaf is more polite than the phrase minta maaf. The phrase minta maaf is usually used with friends or in informal situation. While mohon maaf is usually used in a formal situation or when you have big mistakes and hope to be forgiven

Eid al-Fitr is also called Lebaran. On this day Muslims usually visit the homes of family, relatives and neighbors to stay in touch. They apologize to each other for mistakes that have been made intentionally or unintentionally.